Retail, Internet, and mail order businesses sell thousands of computers, such as desktop and notebook computers, every day. These computing apparatuses are becoming more complex and feature-rich with each passing day. For example, it is not uncommon to find portable computing devices that serve as PDAs, operate as cellular telephones, and have wireless communication capabilities that allow their owners to connect to the Internet to surf and send e-mail. Increasingly these portable computing devices are sold with greater numbers of advanced applications, such as word processors, spreadsheet applications, web browsers, and games.
As computers and other computing apparatuses become more complex and feature rich, their initial configuration processes are becoming more involved and complex as well. Additionally, many manufacturers and system integrators offer arrays of configuration choices for the apparatuses in order to satisfy different needs of different consumers. These arrays of configuration choices further complicate the configuration processes. Several of the large platform integrators that sell computer platforms allow consumers to select different combinations of hardware options and software applications when they order desktop and notebook computers. For example when a consumer places an order for a laptop computer, the consumer may often choose the amount of random access memory (RAM), the amount of cache memory, the size of hard drive, the type of compact disc (CD) and digital versatile disc (DVD) drive, the specific operating system, and different applications. Unfortunately, these different platform configurations have exponentially increasing numbers of options in hardware, firmware, systems software (including device drivers), and applications. Currently platform integrators that offer such “build-to-order” platforms, or computing apparatuses, must maintain a very complex production processes to support the variability of platforms provided to their customers.
With no production-friendly and automated method for discovering what hardware is moving along the production line, integrators are required to introduce a significant human element into their already complex production process when configuring the computing apparatuses for consumers. Presently, people on the assembly line must often manually verify and test hardware and software compatibility for these build-to-order systems in a mixed production environment. Otherwise, integrators must maintain separate and distinct production floors for separate hardware and software configurations without the flexibility to customize platforms in a dynamic manner.